Thursday, June 27, 1985

Concepcion Threatened as Police Look On

ANTI NUKE VIGILlST THREATENED


by DANSFORTH B. TAYLOR
HOME NEWS WIRE

Washington, D.C. - Lafayette Park - A Metro Police officer pulled his motorcycle up to the curb in front of Concepcion Picciotto's Anti-nuke demonstration and said: "Connie, you made it through last winter, but you won't make it through this one.
He smiled, gunned his cc's and sped away.
He called Ms. Picciotto by her familiar name "Connie." He had a blonde mustache and he wore a helmet and dark glasses.
"I took it as a death threat," said Ms. Picciotto, a 43-year-old woman who has manned the 24-hour anti-nuke demonstration across the street from the White House for the last four years.
Several nights earlier, a man came after Ms. Picciotto wtth a two-by-four, smashing her signs instead, as she ran for police help.
"The man chased me all over the Park," she said. "The Park Police watched but did nothing. Then the man said things to the police so they handcuffed him and took him away.
"He was back, sleeping on the park bench a few hours later. The Police would like to see me scared out of here ."
The right to demonstrate in Lafayette Park is being threatened by forces that would eat away at the Democracy from the inside. Our own people, our "peace" officers, are harrassing our own citizens who dare to think that bombs can de dismantled.
The Metro Police Chief and the Park Police Chief here in Washington are being alerted to this situation before It gets to be tragic.